File No. 819.00/393.
The Acting Secretary of State to the American Minister.
Washington, May 13, 1912.
The President has decided to have this Government supervise the registration and election in Panama, and has directed this Department to designate you as chairman and Colonel Goethals and the colonel commanding the regiment of infantry now stationed on the Isthmus to act as a committee for supervision of registration and election and for taking such suitable measures, after consulting with the Government and both parties, as will secure fairness in the registration and election.
You will inform the Panaman Government of the foregoing and notify the leaders of both parties who have communicated with you of this Government’s decision. The Department is communicating with the Panaman Minister here and with the War Department.